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The Use of Bibliometrics for Assessing Research: Possibilities, Limitations and Adverse Effects

In: Incentives and Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Stefanie Haustein

    (Université de Montréal)

  • Vincent Larivière

    (Université de Montréal, Observatoire des sciences et des technologies (OST), Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST), Université du Québec à Montréal)

Abstract

Researchers are used to being evaluated: publications, hiring, tenure and funding decisions are all based on the evaluation of research. Traditionally, this evaluation relied on judgement of peers but, in the light of limited resources and increased bureaucratization of science, peer review is getting more and more replaced or complemented with bibliometric methods. Central to the introduction of bibliometrics in research evaluation was the creation of the Science Citation Index (SCI) in the 1960s, a citation database initially developed for the retrieval of scientific information. Embedded in this database was the Impact Factor, first used as a tool for the selection of journals to cover in the SCI, which then became a synonym for journal quality and academic prestige. Over the last 10 years, this indicator became powerful enough to influence researchers’ publication patterns in so far as it became one of the most important criteria to select a publication venue. Regardless of its many flaws as a journal metric and its inadequacy as a predictor of citations on the paper level, it became the go-to indicator of research quality and was used and misused by authors, editors, publishers and research policy makers alike. The h-index, introduced as an indicator of both output and impact combined in one simple number, has experienced a similar fate, mainly due to simplicity and availability. Despite their massive use, these measures are too simple to capture the complexity and multiple dimensions of research output and impact. This chapter provides an overview of bibliometric methods, from the development of citation indexing as a tool for information retrieval to its application in research evaluation, and discusses their misuse and effects on researchers’ scholarly communication behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefanie Haustein & Vincent Larivière, 2015. "The Use of Bibliometrics for Assessing Research: Possibilities, Limitations and Adverse Effects," Springer Books, in: Isabell M. Welpe & Jutta Wollersheim & Stefanie Ringelhan & Margit Osterloh (ed.), Incentives and Performance, edition 127, pages 121-139, Springer.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-09785-5_8
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-09785-5_8
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Amartya Pani & Pulak Mishra, 2022. "Policies and community participation for integrated natural resource management: a review of transdisciplinary perspective," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 24(1), pages 211-233, June.
    2. Robert Tomaszewski, 2023. "Visibility, impact, and applications of bibliometric software tools through citation analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(7), pages 4007-4028, July.
    3. Thomas Eger & Armin Mertens & Marc Scheufen, 2021. "Publication cultures and the citation impact of open access," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(8), pages 1980-1998, December.
    4. Julián Espinosa-Giménez & Vanessa Paredes-Gallardo & María Dolores Gómez-Adrián & Carlos Bellot-Arcís & Verónica García-Sanz, 2023. "Scientific production of an oral implantology journal: a 5-year bibliometric study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(6), pages 3535-3554, June.
    5. Pantea Kamrani & Isabelle Dorsch & Wolfgang G. Stock, 2021. "Do researchers know what the h-index is? And how do they estimate its importance?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(7), pages 5489-5508, July.
    6. Cesar H. Limaymanta & Rosalía Quiroz-de-García & Jesús A. Rivas-Villena & Andrea Rojas-Arroyo & Orlando Gregorio-Chaviano, 2022. "Relationship between collaboration and normalized scientific impact in South American public universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(11), pages 6391-6411, November.
    7. Alberto Baccini & Giuseppe De Nicolao & Eugenio Petrovich, 2019. "Citation gaming induced by bibliometric evaluation: A country-level comparative analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, September.
    8. Esteban Morales & Erin C McKiernan & Meredith T Niles & Lesley Schimanski & Juan Pablo Alperin, 2021. "How faculty define quality, prestige, and impact of academic journals," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(10), pages 1-13, October.
    9. Cruz-Castro, Laura & Sanz-Menendez, Luis, 2021. "What should be rewarded? Gender and evaluation criteria for tenure and promotion," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3).
    10. Abramo, Giovanni & D'Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea & Grilli, Leonardo, 2021. "The effects of citation-based research evaluation schemes on self-citation behavior," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4).

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